What's eating my rabbiteye blueberry?

Rabbiteye blueberry faces spotted wing drosophila as its most damaging modern pest, laying eggs in ripening berries. Blueberry maggot, cranberry fruitworm, and Japanese beetle also cause significant crop loss. Birds are a constant threat at harvest. Spotted wing drosophila has become particularly severe in the US South and Pacific Northwest.

Female slashes into ripening berries to lay eggs; larvae hatch inside, causing rapid collapse and oozing fermentation — fruit is unmarketable Fine exclusion netting (1 mm mesh); weekly spinosad or pyrethrin sprays once fruit softens; monitor with vinegar/wine traps; harvest frequently

Larvae mine the flesh, leaving shrivelled, unmarketable fruit; infested berries may look normal externally until squeezed Yellow sticky sphere traps baited with ammonium acetate; GF-120 spinosad bait; 1 mm exclusion netting; remove overripe fruit promptly

Adults skeletonise foliage in mid-summer and chew ripe berries; heavy infestations can defoliate young canes Hand-pick adults in the morning into soapy water; apply milky spore (Bacillus popilliae) to lawn areas for larval control; neem oil repels adults

Flocks can strip an entire crop of ripe berries within days — the single biggest cause of yield loss for home growers Drape fine bird netting over plants or install a full netted cage; reflective tape offers only short-term deterrence